Sustainability & Environment

Working closely with architects SOM and our colleagues based in the UK, USA and China, our team prepared a detailed economic strategy to support a concept masterplan for the proposed JingJin New Economic City.  

Today, cities face a number of challenges related to motorized transport such as congestion of city centres and environmental degradation. Taking into account these challenges and the rising number of car owners, individual car traffic seems insufficient for the urban challenges of the 21st century. Hence there is an urgent need to develop new mobility concepts that guarantee a high degree of individual mobility whilst facing the social, economic and environmental challenges of our future cities. 

Dar Es Salaam faces some key social and economic challenges as one of the poorest countries in Africa, with growing inequality despite GDP growth of 5-6% per year. There is a growing backlog of urban infrastructure requirements and transportation relies primarily on privately provided mini-buses. Water and electricity household connections remain low and 80% of housing is ‘informal’. In the past, masterplans for the city have not been implemented due to a lack of coordinated planning and inadequate resources.

Southern Riyadh provides services, amenities, jobs and homes for many of the city’s inhabitants, but over a number of years, it has suffered on a number of fronts.

Ad’Diriyyah represents a series of stunning historic oasis settlements situated in Wadi Hanifah, itself an area of outstanding natural beauty, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s capital city, Riyadh. The site is both the location for the founding of modern Saudi Arabia as well as the birth of the Wahab school of Islam (the “Oneness Movement”).

Jeddah is facing the challenge of sustainably managing its growth for the coming 20 years. During this period, the city will be required to create nearly 1.2 million new jobs and develop around 50,000 new homes per every year.

Al Ha’ir Lakes is the fifth and final zone of Wadi Hanifah. Located 25km downstream of Riyadh, Al Ha’ir is at the end of the wadi catchment and receives the greatest amount of water flow in the Wadi. Working with the client, we identified the Lakes District site as a valuable open space resource for the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh. In addition the site contains an internationally recognised and largest wetland habitat in the Kingdom.

Detroit’s economic and population decline, driven by changes in the US auto and wider manufacturing industry, is a globally recognized story - as are the social, employment and urban consequences for those who remain in the city. Less well known is the tangible economic resurgence that has already started in the city.: new New sectors of the economy are emerging that provide job opportunities for Detroiters and attract new residents to the city. This resurgence is fragile – it will happen against the backdrop of a continued fall in the population until at least 2020 and highly constrained city budgets. Reorganizing the city’s systems and healing the environment are critical to facilitating these changes. The city’s government, civic and business leaders, and its residents face big decisions regarding how best to respond to the challenge of providing more effective systems at reduced costs and an enhanced environment for the evolving city.